Al-Umari takes the Damascus chancery, Muharram 741/1340

ولاية ابن فضل الله كتابة السر بدمشق، محرم ٧٤١هـ/١٣٤٠م

c. June 1340 CE · Muharram 741 AH

Damascus

Shihab al-Din entered Damascus in Muharram 741 (June-July 1340) and took charge of its chancery in place of Shihab Yahya ibn al-Qaysarani, in the reshuffle that followed the arrest of Tankiz, viceroy of Syria, in Dhu al-Hijja 740 1 2.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks
Region
Levant & Iraq

In time

133013401350 c.
The Crusades, Ayyubids and Mamluks · The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era

In space

Damascus

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Summary

Shihab al-Din entered Damascus in Muharram 741 (June-July 1340) and took charge of its chancery in place of Shihab Yahya ibn al-Qaysarani, in the reshuffle that followed the arrest of Tankiz, viceroy of Syria, in Dhu al-Hijja 740 1 2.

Details

He was given the Damascus chancery after the fall of Tankiz — the same Tankiz whose request to seat Alam al-Din Ibn al-Qutb as katib al-sirr had first provoked al-Umari's fateful quarrel 3.

Connections

Explore the connections

Had participant
Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari· Shihab Yahya ibn al-Qaysarani
Occurred at
Damascus

People and things also explored

Birth of Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari at Damascus, 700/1301· Death of Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari at Damascus, 749/1349· Al-Umari dismissed from the Damascus chancery, Safar 743/1342· The retirement years and the great works, 743-749/1342-1349· Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari· Damascus· the Cave of Qasyun (Jibril's Cave)· Qasr Hiraql / Qasr Shams al-Muluk

Sources

  1. Al-Durar al-Kamina fi A'yan al-Mi'a al-Thamina — Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (Dar al-Jil, Beirut) , 1/333
  2. Al-Durar al-Kamina fi A'yan al-Mi'a al-Thamina — Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (Dar al-Jil, Beirut) , 1/520
  3. Al-Durar al-Kamina fi A'yan al-Mi'a al-Thamina — Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (Dar al-Jil, Beirut) , 1/332
  • Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Al-Umari takes the Damascus chancery, Muharram 741/1340”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/umari-damascus-chancery-741/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-01.

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Related

Birth of Ibn Fadl Allah al-Umari at Damascus, 700/1301

Shihab al-Din Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Yahya ibn Fadl Allah al-Adawi al-Umari was born at Damascus on 3 Shawwal 700 (12 June 1301), into a Shafi'i family already established in the Mamluk chancery; the nasab he himself dictated traced the line back to Umar ibn al-Khattab — whence the nisba al-Umari.